1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a piezoelectric ink jet print head, and more particularly to an ink jet print head using a piezoelectric transducer element of a laminar structure.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
A print head utilizing ink jetting devices driven by a piezoelectric actuator or transducer has been recently proposed. Each ink jetting device has an ink chamber provided with an ejecting nozzle. In operation, the volume of the ink chamber is changed by energizing and de-energizing the piezoelectric transducer, so that a droplet of ink is emerged through the ejecting nozzle when the volume of the ink chamber is reduced, while an ink material is supplied into the ink chamber when the volume of the ink chamber is increased. A multiplicity of such ink jetting devices are arranged such that the ejecting nozzles are spaced from each other, and the droplets of ink are ejected from the nozzles of the ink jetting devices selectively activated by the appropriate piezoelectric transducers, so that the ink droplets form characters or other desired images on a recording medium placed adjacent to the print head. This type of non-impact print head activated by the piezoelectric transducers has reduced operating noises than an impact print head, and is more economical to operate than a thermal print head.
However, the piezoelectric ink jet print head uses a piezoelectric transducer for each of the ink jetting devices, and the multiple ink jetting devices must be disposed in close proximity to each other with a high density per unit length of printing, in order to assure high resolving power or high degree of accuracy of reproduction of original images. Accordingly, the ink jet print head tends to be complicated in construction and manufacturing process, resulting in an increase in the cost of manufacture.
On the other hand, the reduction in the size of the piezoelectric transducer is limited due to the limitations in the manufacture. Therefore, the reduction in the size of the ink jetting devices is practically limited, and the conventional piezoelectric ink jet print head cannot be sufficiently improved in the resolution of image reproduction.